CPAC Conference Tangled in Controversy Over Gay Conservative Group

Feb. 2, 2011 -- By all indications, this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, which is expected to draw more than 10,000 activists to Washington, D.C. later this month, will be as popular as ever.

From speakers like Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to panels on "How Political Correctness is Harming America's Military" and "Reagan at 100: Role Model for the Next Generation," the agenda for the three-day gathering is chock full of personalities and events designed to fire up the conservative base.

But not everybody is pleased. Prominent elected officials, including Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as well as several powerful right-leaning groups such as the Family Research Council, the Heritage Foundation, Concerned Women for America, the Media Research Center and others plan to boycott this year's conference in protest of the involvement of the gay conservative group, GOProud.

GOProud, founded in 2009, bills itself as a group that advocates for a "traditional conservative agenda that emphasizes limited government, individual liberty, free markets and a confident foreign policy." But critics say its other mission -- supporting gay rights -- should disqualify it from co-sponsoring CPAC.

The American Principles Project, a non-profit group dedicated to promoting constitutional principles, was among the first to build momentum for a CPAC boycott. Executive Director Andy Blom told ABC News that his group pulled out of the conference this year because his members regard the "sanctity of marriage as every bit as important as keeping taxes low."

Blom said, GOProud is "actively working against one of the most basic tenets of conservatism," and from his perspective, "that just isn't acceptable."

Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, disagrees. "If you look at who will be at CPAC," he said, "there are organizations across the spectrum in the conservative movement."

"Our country over the past 20 years or so, is talking about gay people in a different way," LaSalvia told ABC News, "and conservatives aren't any different than any other Americans."